The Ghost-Father in 1980s Heavy Metal

Heavy metal music from the 1980s may be theorized in terms of the reassuring images of power and masculinity it offers to a largely young, male audience. This paper, by contrast, argues that heavy metal bands present a much more ambivalent and apprehensive vision of masculine development, especially...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of the fantastic in the arts Vol. 24; no. 2 (88); pp. 275 - 288
Main Author:	Lind, Joshua Hjalmer
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Pocatello International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts 22-03-2013 The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts
Subjects:	Analysis Brothers Criticism and interpretation Fathers Fear Gender Ghost stories Grandmothers Guilt Heavy metal music Heavy metals Inheritances Masculinity Memory Psychoanalysis Rock groups Social aspects Social order Society Sons Victorian period United States United States > US
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Heavy metal music from the 1980s may be theorized in terms of the reassuring images of power and masculinity it offers to a largely young, male audience. This paper, by contrast, argues that heavy metal bands present a much more ambivalent and apprehensive vision of masculine development, especially in light of sociological changes in the American family which has led to an increasing number of fatherless homes. Drawing upon the Freudian theory of the Primal Father, this paper explores three heavy metal albums in terms of how they negotiate the paternal function in absence of the father. Mötley Crüe's Shout at the Devil and Manowar's Fighting the World examine opposite reactions characterized by aggression and veneration. King Diamond's "Them" charts a tense middle ground, using Gothic tropes to represent the uncanny moment one discovers the paternal function within one's self, a moment one is caught between transgressing and affirming the patriarchal social order.
ISSN:	0897-0521